Boxed Memories

When I was home in Malaysia earlier this year, I had to clear out my old room. The room where I spent endless hours composing poems till the wee hours of the morning. The special space where I wrote letters to friends and relatives. A domain where secrets were shared with my sister and girlfriends.

As I went through old albums, memories of old came flooding in. A nostalgic feeling washed over me. My albums told many stories – from childhood to adulthood. I could not bring back those albums with me. They were just too heavy. My brother promised to keep them – two boxes full of pictorial family and personal history.

The ones that I did manage to take with me were extra copies I found lying around. They include some photos from my parents' collection.

Wedding photo of dad & mom (1959)
(L-R:) Bertha Minjoot-Rozario, Jack Santa Maria, Ira Tegjeu, Dad & Mom, Olive Santa Maria, George Tegjeu, Charles Carvalho.

The day my sister was baptised at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Kota Bharu, Kelantan (1972)

When I was done with the albums, I moved on to a box of old letters and cards. I had to decide which to keep and which to throw. A job which should have taken me two hours to complete went on for five hours. They were just old birthday cards from friends and relatives. I had to be practical and toss some out. I did, however, retain only one card from each relative that has passed away - from both sets of grandparents, uncles and aunties.

Maternal grandparents at The National Museum, Kuala Lumpur (year unknown)

Then, there were old letters from friends. The contents of those correspondences were just ramblings of our daily lives – thoughts of confused teenagers and later, young adults waiting to conquer the world. I read them once again before throwing them out. I smiled and chuckled at the mindset we had those days.

New Year's Eve 1993

Pan Pacific Singapore - Apr. 1995

Finally, I came across a box that was filled with letters, cards, postcards, printed e-mails and gifts from my other half. It was so good to read all those love notes once again. It brought back memories of our courtship days. Time has flown by so fast. This is the man who flew from the States to Malaysia every year, for three consecutive years, to see me. The very same man who now gives excuses not to drive 30 minutes down the road to WalMart. This man, the one who impressed my mom in the kitchen by cooking a butter shrimp dish - the same one who now says opening a can of chicken noodle soup is the best that he can do. Ah! but he remains the ever loving life partner and provider of our home.

Anyway, I could not throw away anything that he sent me over the years except some old computer software that came on 3.5-inch floppy disk. So, I bundled up everything that I wanted to save and brought them back with me. They now sit in a box in my bedroom closet. Someday I will re-open that box and reminisce the yesteryears. The years when I was young.